Strong and predictable environmental variability can reward flexible behaviors among animals. We used long-term records of activity data that cover several lunar cycles to investigate whether behavior at-sea of swallow-tailed gulls Creagrus furcatus, a nocturnal pelagic seabird, varied with lunar phase in the Galápagos Islands. A Bayesian hierarchical model showed that nighttime at-sea activity...

The existence of lunar influence on the frequency of suicide is tested by means of a permutation test. A total of 897 suicide deaths reported by the Anatomical Forensic Institute of Madrid were analyzed by a permutation test, a direct application of Fisher's ideas. Noteworthy in this study are the testing method used and the accuracy of timing of the deaths. Both factors provide firm ground for...

Juvenile noble crayfish, Astacusastacus (Crustacea, Astacidea) in the second year of age were kept in the laboratory for a twelve-month period under continuing "summer conditions" (LD 16:8, 19°C). Molting processes in this population could be synchronized by artificial moonlight cycles. Peaks of exuviations occurred at "new moons". Males showed a slightly higher degree of synchronization than f...

Abstract. The lunar cycle has long been suspected to influence biological phenomena. Folklore alludes to such a relationship, but previous scientific analyses have failed to find significant associations. It has been shown that lunar cycles indeed have effects on animals; significant associations between human circadian rhythms and lunar cycles have also been reported. We set out to determine w...

In January 2005, President Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration. This vision involved a progressive expansion of human capabilities beyond Low Earth Orbit beginning with a return to the moon starting no later than 2020. Current design processes utilized to meet this vision employ performance based trade studies to determine the lowest cost, highest reliability solution. In these desi...

This study looks for evidence of a correlation between long-term changes in the lunar tidal forces and the interannual to decadal variability of the peak latitude anomaly of the summer (DJF) subtropical high pressure ridge over Eastern Australia (LSA) between 1860 and 2010. A simple "resonance" model is proposed that assumes that if lunar tides play a role in influencing LSA, it is most likely ...

Many studies have shown that endotherms become more heterothermic when the costs of thermoregulation are high and/or when limited energy availability constrains thermoregulatory capacity. However, the roles of many ecological variables, including constraints on foraging opportunities and/or success, remain largely unknown. To test the prediction that thermoregulatory patterns should be related ...

Since ancient times, human has been fascinated by the changing lunar phases – a monthly cycle that takes 29.53 days to complete (Figure 1). Many cultures in the world hold the beliefs that the changing lunar phases affect human behaviour; in particular, full moon has been associated with madness. The word “lunatic” (previously used to mean mentally ill) came from Latin lunaticus which in turn w...